Russia’s Largest Charter Carrier Aims For 30 Aircraft in Its Fleet by 2020

Azur Air, Russia’s largest passenger charter airline, is on track to increase its current fleet roster of 22 to 30 aircraft by 2020. Backed by its ‘strategic partner’, Turkish travel operator Anex Tour, Azur Air has already taken delivery of its first Boeing 777-300ER wide-body, the first of the type in the airline’s all-Boeing fleet.

During the forthcoming winter, the carrier intends to add three more 777s, Azur Air’s general director Yuriy Stogniy revealed at a presentation ceremony of the new-arrival airliner at the airline’s Moscow Domodedovo base airport.

The GE90-115B-powered aircraft which offers a seating capacity of 386 in economy and 42 in business class, was previously operated by local leisure carrier VIM Airlines, which ceased operations and left the market in October 2017. It has already started service for its latest operator, operating flights from Moscow to Antalya in Turkey and Djerba in Tunisia.

“At the moment we have completed negotiations regarding three more B777 aircraft, which will arrive from December at the rate of one per month. For the winter season of 2018/2019 we will have four Boeing 777-300ERs in our fleet,” Stogniy pointed out.

The addition of the B777s is part of a wider fleet expansion programme, which also encompasses the delivery of two more Boeing 767s this summer.

“Today we have 22 Boeing aircraft in our fleet but, by 2020, we will bring this number to 28, or possibly 30,” the executive announced.

The two incoming B767s will be placed on the Russian register, a stance announced by the airline’s management in March, when Russia’s aviation authority Rosaviatsiya agreed to lift all restrictions on Azur Air’s Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) which it had imposed a month earlier.

With the AOC in jeopardy, shareholders decided to change the airline’s top-management, whilst also announcing the prospect of registering up to 10 of its aircraft in Russia – a long-time goal of Russia’s aviation authorities.

As of March of this year, out of 743 western-built aircraft then being operated by Russian airlines, only 133 were placed on the national register (123 aircraft with a capacity of less than 50 seats), whilst the vast majority were registered in Bermuda. Azur Air promised it would be among the ‘pioneers’ of this transition.

During first five months of 2018 Azur Air transported 1.37 million passengers, up 23 per cent on the same period last year

Privacy Overview

We use cookies and other similar technologies to help provide our Services, to advertise to you and to analyse how you use our Services and whether advertisements are being viewed. We also allow third parties to use tracking technologies for similar purposes. If you are using our Services via a browser you can restrict, block or remove cookies through your web browser settings. The Help menu on the menu bar of most browsers also tells you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to delete old cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie and how to disable cookies altogether. To learn more, click here.

Essential cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site may not work then.

Functional Cookies

These cookies allow the provision of enhance functionality and personalization, such as videos and live chats. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies, then some or all of these functionalities may not function properly.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources, so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies, we will not know when you have visited our site.

Targeting Cookies

These cookies are set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant ads on other sites. They work by uniquely identifying your browser and device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will not experience our targeted advertising across different websites.